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IHOP
IHOP (US: /ˈaɪ.hɒp/ EYE-hop; International House of Pancakes) is an American multinational pancake house restaurant chain that specializes in breakfast foods. It is owned by Dine Brands Global—a company formed after IHOP's purchase of Applebee's, with 99% of the restaurants run by independent franchisees. While IHOP's focus is on breakfast foods, it also offers a menu of lunch and dinner items. The company has 1,650 locations in North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Oceania. While many of its locations are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the chain's minimum operating hours are Sunday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Fridays and Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 12 midnight. History Jerry Lapin, Al Lapin, and Albert Kallis founded International House of Pancakes in 1958 with the help of Sherwood Rosenberg and William Kaye. The first restaurant opened on July 18, at 4301 Riverside Drive in Burbank, California .1 The breakfast food menu later expanded (especially in the 1980s) to include standard lunch and dinner items found in similar restaurant chains such as Sambo's and Denny's. From 1959 to 1975, it was the flagship division of International Industries, a holding company which also owned the Orange Julius refreshment stands.5 In 1973, the chain's name was shortened to "IHOP" for marketing purposes, using a cartoon kangaroo in its commercials at the time, and since then the full name and acronym have been officially interchangeable.1 From 1976 onward, the company increasingly favored the acronym.5 Acquisition of Applebee's On July 16, 2007, IHOP Corporation announced a plan to acquire the bar-and-grill chain Applebee's in an all-cash transaction, valued at approximately US$2.1 billion. Under the deal, IHOP would pay $25.50 per share for Applebee's. IHOP stated it would franchise most of Applebee's 500 company-owned facilities. Applebee's had 1,943 restaurants worldwide at the time, including those operated by franchisees.6 Applebee's shareholders approved the acquisition with a 70% vote, which closed on November 29, 2007. A number of executives from Applebee's voted against the offer. The chain's largest individual shareholder, Applebee's director Burton "Skip" Sack, called the IHOP offer unfair to its shareholders and stated he planned to take IHOP to court to demand a higher price be paid to him. As part of the purchase, a brand remarketing scheme and revitalization of the Applebee's image was intended.7 The buyout successfully closed on November 29, 2007,8 and the corporate entity IHOP changed its name to DineEquity on June 2, 2008.9 In June 2017, Dine Brands announced that a local franchisee would open a hybrid Applebee's/IHOP restaurant in downtown Detroit in 2018, with both a quick-service "IHOP Express" area and a seated section featuring a selection of menu items from both chains. The IHOP Express portion opened in May 2018, with the seated section opened in late-June.1011 Menu While IHOP's focus is on breakfast, serving pancakes, waffles, French toast, and omelettes, it also offers a menu of lunch and dinner items such as sandwiches, burgers, and salads.12 Locations The company has 1,814 locations in North America, Latin America, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Oceania.13 Franchising agreements with M.H. Alshaya, an international restaurant-franchising firm, resulted in an agreement for Alshaya to open as many as forty IHOP locations in the Middle East, beginning in 2012. By the end of 2013, IHOP restaurants operated in four Middle Eastern countries: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Lebanon.14[non-primary source needed] IHOP Express locations first opened in 2009; they are a quick service version of the chain offered at locations such as airports, campus and military food courts, and travel centers. The first standalone public location of the concept opened in downtown San Diego in 2011.15161718 Marketing In June 2015, IHOP introduced an updated logo, removing its decorative elements and adding a curved line under the "O" and "P" letters to resemble a smiley face. The company argued that the previous, curved "Restaurant" element of the previous logo looked too much like a frown, and that the new branding would "capture the essence of the IHOP experience, which consistently delivers our guests not only craveable food, but also great memories shared with family and friends."1920 In June 2018, IHOP performed a publicity stunt in which it announced that it would "flip" its name to "IHOb". The stunt was ultimately a teaser for a new marketing campaign centering on its hamburgers, in an effort to address perceptions that IHOP was still primarily oriented towards breakfast food.21 Lawsuit In early September 2010, IHOP filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against International House of Prayer and six other defendants alleging trademark dilution and infringement.2223 The lawsuit was dropped on December 21, 2010, with the dispute resolved out of court. Category:Restaurants Category:Breakfast Restaurants Category:Pancake Restaurants Category:Restaurants by type